Univ. of  in.  Library 


54 


AMERICAN  BOARD  OF 
COMMISSIONERS  FOR  FOREIGN  MISSIONS 

SURVEY  OF  THE  FIELDS 
1909-1910 

WITH  A  LOOK  BACKWARD 

BY  FOREIGN  SECRETARY 

JAMES  L.  BARTON,  D.D. 


BOSTON,  CONGREGATIONAL  HOUSE,  1910 


# 


SURVEY  OF  THE  FIELDS,  1909-1910 

By  JAMES  L.  BARTON,  Foreign  Secretary 


The  American  Board  has  suffered 
during  the  year  under  review  the  loss 
of  three  of  its  time-honored  and  notable 
missionaries,  Mrs.  Daniel  Crosby  Greene, 
of  Japan;  Rev.  Herman  N.  Barnum,  d.d., 
of  Harpoot,  Turkey;  and  Miss  Corinna 
Shattuck,  of  Oorfa,  Turkey.  Mrs.  Greene 
and  her  husband  were  the  pioneer  mis¬ 
sionaries  of  the  American  Board  in 
Japan,  and  from  the  beginning  of  the 
mission  until  her  death  this  year  she  has 
stood  as  the  mother  of  the  mission. 
Dr.  Barnum  was  among  the  earlier  mis¬ 
sionaries  at  Harpoot,  and  was  one  of 
the  famous  group  of  three  families  that 
worked  together  in  that  station  for  some 
forty  years.  Miss  Shattuck  achieved  an 
international  reputation  because  of  her 
signal  bravery  at  the  time  of  the  Arme¬ 
nian  massacres  in  1895,  and  for  the  con¬ 
structive  work  that  she  has  carried  on 
since  for  widows  and  orphans.  The 
combined  period  of  service  of  these  three 
veterans  under  the  American  Board 


393 


1630  1660  1665  1910 


aggregates  130  years,  or  an  average  of 
forty-three  and  one-third  years  each. 
Who  can  measure  the  length  and  breadth 
and  depth  of  the  influence  of  these  mis¬ 
sionaries  on  the  countries  in  which  they 
lived  and  labored? 

AREA  OF  THE  WORLD’S  UNREST 

SPAIN 

Our  missions  occupy  at  the  present 
time  the  area  of  the  world’s  greatest 
unrest.  Spain  has  been  for  months  al¬ 
most  upon  the  verge  of  revolution.  This 
uprising  is  not  primarily  political,  but 
intellectual  and  religious.  It  marks  the 
struggle  of  the  thinking  people  of  Spain 
against  the  oppressive  measures  of  a 
government  itself  under  the  domination 
of  religious  orders  and  of  a  Church  that 
refuses  to  give  liberty  of  conscience  to 
its  followers.  One  cannot  predict  the 
outcome,  but  the  fact  remains  that  think¬ 
ing  Spain  will  not  long  be  content  with 
the  suppression  of  thought,  judgment, 
and  of  conscience  which  has  been  so 
long  practiced  by  the  ruling  powers  in 
that  country.  Spain  is  struggling  to  be 
free  while  she  is  watching  Portugal’s 
endeavors  in  the  same  direction. 

TURKEY 

In  the  Turkish  empire  the  situation 
does  not  materially  differ  from  what  it 
was  a  year  ago,  except  that  constitu¬ 
tional  government  is  now  a  year  older, 
the  men  in  control  have  learned  much  by 
experience,  and  there  is  a  greater  hope¬ 
fulness  in  the  country  that  government 
by  the  people  will  not  be  overthrown. 
There  are  indications  that  the  party  in 
power  is  becoming  not  a  little  anxious 
over  the  evidences  that  so  large  a  num- 


INCREASE  IN  MISSIONARIES 


2 


SURVEY  OF  THE  FIELDS 


ber  of  progressive  Mohammedans  are 
demanding  the  right  to  think.  During 
the  last  few  months  a  reaction  has  been 
manifest  against  the  spirit  of  progress, 
which  prevails  especially  among  the 
Albanians  of  Western  Macedonia.  The 
government  has  not  yet  declared  itself 
on  the  question  of  popular  education.  At 
the  same  time,  the  country  is  opening 
to  a  spirit  of  progress.  Foreign  capital 
is  going  into  the  empire  for  the  con¬ 
struction  of  railroads  and  other  general 
public  improvements,  all  of  which  will 
tend  to  make  permanent  the  new  order. 

INDIA 

In  India  the  unrest  that  was  so  prom¬ 
inent  a  year  ago  has  been  in  a  measure 
allayed  through  concessions  granted  by 
the  Indian  government,  putting  a  larger 
share  of  responsibility  upon  the  Indians 
themselves.  The  government  is  endeav¬ 
oring  so  to  reform  in  lines  of  education 
that  the  Indians,  through  the  schools  of 
the  country,  will  become  more  adequately 
equipped  for  life  in  India  and  for  doing 
that  which  India  demands  of  her  edu¬ 
cated  men.  The  Christian  movement 
has  gone  forward  with  even  greater 
progress  than  last  year.  We  are  un¬ 
doubtedly  approaching  a  period  when  we 
piust  be  ready  to  deal  with  mass  move¬ 


ments,  with  entire  castes  seeking  for 
Christian  instruction,  and  with  villages 
and  groups  of  villages  breaking  away 
from  their  old  religions  and  asking  to 
come  under  the  tuition  of  the  Christian 
missionary. 

In  order  better  to  meet  these  condi¬ 
tions,  the  missionaries  of  the  Madura 
Mission  have  so  organized  their  forces 
that  the  responsibility  for  the  conduct 
of  primary  education  and  evangelistic 
work  in  the  mission  shall  rest  in  larger 
measure  upon  the  trained  native  Chris¬ 
tian  leaders.  This  plan  has  been  in 
operation  for  a  year  or  more,  and  its 
results  give  great  encouragement. 

CHINA 

In  China  the  progress  in  breaking 
away  from  the  old  conservative  tradi¬ 
tions  of  the  empire  has  been,  if  possible, 
more  rapid  than  in  the  previous  year. 
Constitutional  government,  already  as¬ 
sured,  is  demanded  by  the  people  even  in 
advance  of  the  time  when  it  has  been 
promised.  Local  assemblies  to  discuss 
national  affairs  have  been  gathered  in 
various  sections  of  the  country,  while 
the  imperial  government  has  issued  a 
decree  making  the  English  language  the 
national  foreign  language  of  the  empire. 
This  latter  decision  is  of  supreme  im- 


SURVEY  OF  THE  FIELDS 


3 


portance,  since  it  will  compel  every 
student  in  the  higher  schools  to  study 
English,  and  will  undoubtedly  lead  to 
the  introduction  of  English  into  all  of  the 
national  schools.  This  action  cannot  fail 
to  make  the  schools  of  the  missionaries 
more  sought  after  than  ever,  while  it 
opens  up  to  the  missionaries  avenues  of 
approach  to  the  Chinese  people  hitherto 
closed.  Of  the  great  number  of  Prot¬ 
estant  missionaries  in  China,  a  large 
proportion  are  English-speaking.  These 
are  scattered  throughout  the  country 
and  have  many  schools  of  all  grades  well 
established.  The  time  is  abundantly  ripe 
to  put  special  emphasis  upon  the  work 
of  Christian  education,  since  it  is  at  this 
point  that  the  Chinese  are  now  especially 
approachable. 

JAPAN 

The  line  of  national  unrest  which  we 
have  been  following  reaches  also  into 
Japan,  although  politically  Japan  is  more 
quiet  now  than  a  year  ago.  We  cannot 
lose  sight  of  the  fact,  however,  that  dur¬ 
ing  the  last  few  weeks  Korea  has  been 
constituted  formally  a  part  of  the  Jap¬ 
anese  empire.  When  we  recall  the  great 
progress  which  Christianity  has  made  in 
Korea  during  the  last  decade,  and  when 
we  also  remember  the  significant  fact 
that  in  Japan  itself  today  there  is  only 
one  registered  Christian  for  every  six 
hundred  of  its  population,  we  cannot 
escape  from  the  feeling  that  more  should 
be  done  in  Japan,  not  only  for  Japan  it¬ 
self,  but  for  the  sake  of  Korea.  The 
Japanese  Christian  leaders  are  urging  us 
to  send  missionary  reenforcements  to 
that  country,  and  the  members  of  the 
Kumi-ai  churches  are  turning  their  at¬ 
tention  to  Korea,  not  for  work  among 
the  natives  of  that  land,  but  for  their 
own  people  who  are  going  to  Korea  in 
such  large  numbers,  in  order  that  these 
may  become  Christian  and  their  influ¬ 
ence  upon  Korea  may  be  for  Christ. 
These  conditions  present  an  unprece¬ 


dented  and  immediately  urgent  call  to 
strengthen  the  Christian  forces  in  Japan. 

Without  dwelling  upon  the  situation  as 
here  briefly  outlined,  we  cannot  but  draw 
the  conclusion  that,  throughout  the  prin¬ 
cipal  countries  in  which  the  American 
Board  has  planted  missions  there  is  a 
spirit  of  dissatisfaction  with  the  situa¬ 
tion  as  it  affects  intellectual,  religious, 
and  political  conditions.  We  cannot  be 
blind  to  the  fact  that  the  movements  in 
those  countries  are  along  the  lines  of 
genuine  progress,  preparing  the  way  for 
the  establishment  of  Christian  institu¬ 
tions  and  for  the  promulgation  of  Chris¬ 
tian  truth  as  it  is  in  the  gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ. 

OUR  OPPORTUNITY 

As  the  people  of  the  East  break  with 
their  old  traditions  they  are  unusually 
susceptible  to  the  teachings  of  the  West. 
For  many  years  they  have  been  criti¬ 
cally  studying  Christianity  in  its  relation 
to  the  national  life  of  America  and  Eng¬ 
land.  It  is  time,  therefore,  for  us  to 
bring  all  our  forces  to  bear  upon  these 
countries,  that  they  may  have  before 
them  the  demonstration  of  what  Chris¬ 
tianity  can  do  for  the  salvation  of  the 
individual  as  well  as  of  society  and  of 
a  nation.  There  has  probably  never 
been  any  period  when  the  Christian 
nations  as  such  were  given  so  wide  an 
opportunity  to  put  the  stamp  of  Chris¬ 
tian  thought  and  Christian  living  upon 
the  people  of  the  East.  This  is  specially 
true  for  us  with  reference  to  Moham¬ 
medans  in  the  Turkish  empire,  to  China, 
where  we  are  in  direct  contact  with 
25,000,000  of  her  vast  population,  and 
to  Japan,  where  our  mission  stands 
among  the  first  in  its  strength  and 
influence. 

POLICY  OF  CONCENTRATION 

During  the  year  the  Committee  has 
continued  to  follow  the  policy  which  has 


4 


SURVEY  OF  THE  FIELDS 


INCREASE  IN  MISSION  STATIONS 


been  in  practice  more  or  less  during  the 
century  of  its  operations,  namely,  that 
of  concentration.  In  the  earlier  days  of 
missionary  work  the  policy  was  to  scatter 
missionary  families  in  a  great  number 
of  stations.  As  the  work  progressed  it 
became  evident  that  concentration  was 
necessary  for  the  most  effective  and 
permanent  results.  There  are  but  few 
more  mission  stations  today  in  all  the 
mission  fields  of  the  Board  than  there 
were  seventy  years  ago.  The  same 
policy  of  concentration  has  been  carried 
on  with  reference  to  missions.  Not  a 
few  missions  have  been  opened  by  mis¬ 
sionaries  of  this  Board  which  have  not 
been  continued,  since  it  was  later  dis¬ 
covered  that  some  other  missionary 
organization  could  carry  on  the  work 
more  effectively  and  economically  than 
could  we. 

It  is  inevitable  that  in  entering  upon 
new  and  often  unknown  fields  there 
must  be  some  temporary  occupation  at 
different  points.  At  the  same  time,  some 
fields  develop  much  more  rapidly  and 
with  greater  promise  than  do  others.  If 
the  funds  of  the  Board  and  reenforce¬ 
ments  were  ample  for  all  of  the  work, 


there  would  be  little  or  no  withdrawal 
from  any  field  once  occupied.  Because 
during  the  last  few  years  the  receipts  of 
the  Board  have  not  been  sufficient  to 
furnish  an  adequate  support  for  the 
work  to  which  we  were  committed,  the 
mission  fields  of  Ponape  and  the  Mort- 
lock  Islands  in  Micronesia  have  been 
passed  over  to  the  Liebenzeller  Mission¬ 
ary  Society  of  Germany.  Because  of  the 
great  demands  of  the  work  in  Guam  for 
funds  and  reenforcements,  while  the 
mission  could  possibly  reach  only  ten 
thousand  people,  the  Prudential  Com¬ 
mittee  have  decided,  during  the  year,  that 
it  would  not  be  justified  in  sending  to 
that  comparatively  narrow  field  the 
money  and  men  so  desperately  required 
for  maintaining  work  at  several  of  the 
great  mission  centers.  It  has  been  de¬ 
cided  for  this  reason  not  to  continue  the 
work  in  Guam,  but  to  pass  over  whatever 
has  been  begun  to  any  evangelical  mis¬ 
sionary  society  that  is  ready  to  continue 
the  mission.  At  the  present  time  we  are 
in  correspondence  with  the  Methodist 
Missionary  Society  of  New  York  with 
reference  to  their  taking  over  the  work 
\yhich  has  been  established  by  this  Board 


SURVEY  OF  THE  FIELDS 


5 


and  carried  on  for  many  years  in  Spain, 
exclusive  of  the  Woman’s  Board  school, 
recently  moved  from  Madrid  to  Barce¬ 
lona.  The  Methodist  Board  has  missions 
in  Southern  Europe  and  a  complete 
organization  for  supervising  the  work  in 
Spain,  which  the  American  Board  has 
not. 

In  the  Eastern  Turkey  Mission  corre¬ 
spondence  is  now  in  progress  with  a 
German  missionary  society,  already  at 
work  in  three  places  in  that  mission,  with 
a  view  to  passing  over  to  that  organiza¬ 
tion  one  of  the  stations  of  the  mission, 
they  to  withdraw  from  the  other  places 
where  they  are  at  work.  All  of  these 
plans  of  withdrawal  and  concentration 
are  in  the  interests  of  greater  efficiency, 
a  more  economical  use  of  the  funds  and 
forces  of  the  Board,  and  a  closer  co¬ 
operation  with  other  missionary  socie¬ 
ties  in  the  division  of  territory. 

In  the  face  of  enforced  reductions  and 
of  rapidly  developing  responsibilities  in 
some  of  the  important  missions,  such 
withdrawal  is  inevitable.  If  it  is  the 
will  of  this  Board  that  no  territory  now 
occupied  be  given  up  or  passed  over  to 
any  other  society,  the  only  effective  way 
in  which  this  desire  can  be  expressed  is 
by  an  adequate  and  permanent  increase 
in  the  regular  income  of  the  Board. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  has  seemed  in¬ 
evitable  that  the  Board  should  strengthen 
and  in  a  measure  increase  its  work  at 
two  comparatively  new  points,  viz.,  in 
Albania,  within  the  boundary  of  the 
European  Turkey  Mission,  and  in  Min¬ 
danao,  which  constitutes  the  mission  field 
assigned  to  it  by  the  United  Missionary 
Societies  of  the  Philippine  Islands.  In 
both  of  these  missions  a  large  part  of 
the  funds  for  their  conduct  have  come 
from  gifts  received  especially  for  this 
purpose.  In  view  of  the  fact  that  there 
is  no  other  missionary  society  which  can 
go  into  Albania  and  take  up  the  work, 
accompanied  also  by  the  fact  that  this 
country  is  now  opening  to  outside  influ¬ 


ences  in  a  way  that  gives  assurance  for 
the  future,  it  seems  inevitable  that  we 
should  enlarge  the  work  and  seize  the 
opportunity  for  reaching  that  warlike 
but  most  interesting  and  virile  race. 
Something  of  the  same  arguments  hold 
for  Mindanao,  and  the  Committee  has 
decided  to  open  as  soon  as  possible  two 
new  stations,  in  order  that  that  great 
island  may  be  brought  out  from  its  sav¬ 
agery  into  the  light  and  privileges  of 
Christian  civilization.  Some  of  the  lead¬ 
ing  Beys  of  Albania  are  among  the 
strongest  friends  of  our  missionaries, 
and  the  government  officials  in  Minda¬ 
nao,  together  with  local  planters,  are 
rendering  substantial  assistance  to  the 
work  there.  The  Mindanao  Medical 
Association  of  New  York  has  furnished 
the  funds  for  the  medical  work  at  Davao, 
and  personal  friends  of  the  work  in 
Albania  have  supplied  the  funds  hitherto 
used  for  that  work.  It  should  be  said, 
however,  that  these  funds  are  now  nearly 
exhausted,  while  the  openings  in  Albania 
have  extended  in  a  wholly  unexpected 
manner. 

Within  the  limits  of  this  survey  it  is 
impossible  to  give  space  for  a  general 
review  of  the  work  of  the  year  in  all 
the  missions  of  the  Board.  This  work 
has  reached  such  proportions  that  to  give 
a  review  that  is  at  all  adequate  to  the 
situation  would  require  a  volume  rather 
than  a  few  pages  in  an  Annual  Survey. 
It  seems  more  important  that  for  this 
centennial  year  we  stretch  the  survey 
back  not  only  over  the  year  but  over  the 
century,  in  order  that  from  this  view  we 
may  catch  a  vision  of  the  possibilities 
opening  before  this  Board  for  the  new 
century  upon  which  we  are  now  entering. 

A  CENTURY  OF  MISSIONS 

During  this  first  century  of  the  Amer¬ 
ican  Board  seven  of  the  ioi  annual 
meetings  have  been  held  in  Boston, 
namely,  in  1813,  1819,  1823,  1830,  the 


6 


SURVEY  OF  THE  FIELDS 


semi-centennial  in  i860,  the  seventy-fifth 
anniversary  in  1885,  and  the  present 
centenary  in  1910.  It  may  not  be  amiss 
at  this  time  to  glance  back  over  the 
stages  in  the  work  of  the  Board  repre¬ 
sented  by  the  last  four  of  these  meetings, 
in  order  to  establish  the  trend  of  its 
progress. 

In  making  comparisons  it  has  seemed 
best  to  eliminate  the  statistics  of  the 
work  for  the  North  American  Indians 
as  well  as  that  carried  on  in  the  Sand¬ 
wich  Islands,  since  both  of  these  depart¬ 
ments  have  been  mostly  eliminated  from 
our  consideration  for  a  half  century. 
There  will  remain  then,  after  these  ex¬ 
clusions,  that  constant  factor  in  our 
work  which  has  continued  through  the 
;  entire  period  with  little  change  except 
enlargement. 

STATIONS 

We  begin  with  the  stations  occupied 
in  the  foreign  field  as  places  of  resi¬ 
dence  for  missionaries  of  the  Board, 
and*'  find  that  in  1830,  when  the  first 
meeting  was  held  in  Boston,  there  were 
only  eight  of  these.  It  should  be  said 
that  up  to  that  time  the  emphasis  of  the 


work  was  laid  upon  the  Indians  in 
America  and  upon  the  Sandwich  Islands. 
In  i860,  when  the  semi-centennial  of 
the  Board  was  celebrated,  the  eight 
stations  had  become  eighty-eight,  which 
again  through  a  process  of  concentra¬ 
tion  had  become  eighty-three  in  1885, 
and  stands  now  in  1910  at  102.  The 
comparative  decrease  in  the  number  of 
stations  indicates  greater  organization 
and  centralization. 

ORDAINED  MISSIONARIES 

Let  us  now  look  at  the  force  of 
ordained  American  missionaries.  In 
1830  there  were  fourteen,  which  in¬ 
creased  in  i860  to  136,  in  1885  to  156, 
and  in  1910  to  173.  This  shows  a  net 
increase  in  the  ordained  missionary  force 
during  the  past  fifty  years  of  only 
twenty  per  cent,  in  spite  of  the  enor¬ 
mous  advance  in  the  work.  The  reason 
for  this  is  that  the  ordained  native  pas¬ 
tor  has  in  many  respects  taken  the  place 
and  is  now  doing  the  work  of  the  earlier 
missionary. 

MISSIONARIES 

The  number  of  missionaries  as  a  whole 
has  increased  more  rapidly  since  i860, 
when  the  Woman’s  Boards  have  added 
their  strength  accounting  for  about  one- 
third  of  the  increase  in  the  mission¬ 
ary  forces.  Enumerating  the  wives  as 
well  as  the  unordained  men  and  the 
single  women,  but  only  those  who  are 
under  full  appointment,  we  find  that  the 
number  of  missionaries  in  active  serv¬ 
ice  at  the  four  periods  were,  in  1830, 
forty-six;  in  i860,  287;  in  1885,  422; 
and  in  1910,  593,  showing  a  rather  uni¬ 
form  rate  of  increase,  upon  the  average 
of  about  180,  or  about  forty  per  cent, 
for  each  twenty-five  years  since  i860. 

NATIVE  LABORERS 

It  is  when  we  come  to  the  native 
laborers  that  we  begin  to  note  signs  of 


SURVEY  OF  THE  FIELDS 


7 


marked  progress.  These  figures  in 
themselves  make  clear  the  possibility  of 
broad  and  fundamental  advances  of  the 
work  without  a  corresponding  increase 
in  the  number  of  missionaries  from  the 
United  States.  In  1830  it  is  almost  im¬ 
possible  to  find  in  the  reports  of  the 
missions  any  allusion  to  native  Chris¬ 
tian  workers.  It  would  hardly  be  ex¬ 
pected  that  in  the  eighteen  years  during 
which  work  of  any  kind  had  been  car¬ 
ried  on  in  India  a  native  agency  could 
have  been  created.  At  that  time,  as 
will  appear  later,  there  were  but  a  mere 
handful  of  native  Christians  of  any  kind. 
In  i860  reports  refer  to  640  persons  in 
all  of  the  stations  who  are  called  “na¬ 
tive  helpers.”  Not  a  few  of  them  are 
shown  to  be  little  more  than  missionary 
assistants  of  the  crudest  sort,  mostly 
teachers  of  small  children  in  the  rudi¬ 
ments  of  reading.  In  1885  this  number 
had  risen  to  2,183,  and  included  men  and 
women  of  recognized  ability.  This  num¬ 
ber  of  native  Christian  leaders,  who  in 
1885  outnumbered  the  missionaries  five 
to  one  and  the  ordained  missionaries 
fourteen  to  one,  has  become  in  this  our 
day  an  army  of  4,718,  outnumbering  the 
entire  missionary  force  eight  to  one  and 
the  ordained  missionaries  twenty-seven 
to  one.  It  should  also  be  stated  that  the 


56£ 

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1630  1660  1665  1910 

standard  of  education  and  general  equip¬ 
ment  in  this  native  body  at  the  present 
time  is  much  higher  than  it  was  twenty- 
five  or  even  ten  years  ago. 

INDIGENOUS  CHURCHES 

When  we  turn  to  the  number  of  the 
native  churches  we  find  that  the  figures, 
while  most  striking,  are  not  so  signifi¬ 
cant.  In  the  earlier  period  there  were 
no  native  churches,  strictly  speaking. 
The  churches  then  reported  were  mis¬ 
sionary  organizations,  with  but  few 
native  members.  In  i860  we  find  a 
record  of  eighty-nine  churches  and  in 
1885  of  292,  while  we  report  this  year 
568.  The  number  of  native  churches 
has  practically  doubled  each  twenty-five 
years,  while  their  aggressive  strength 
has  more  than  quadrupled  in  that  period. 

CHURCH  MEMBERS 

The  increased  strength  of  the  churches 
is  made  more  apparent  by  comparing  the 
membership  of  these  churches  at  the 
four  designated  periods.  In  1830  none 
were  reported,  and  in  i860,  while  there 
was  no  attempted  tabulation,  references 
are  made  to  about  three  thousand  native 
church  members.  This  was  the  fruit  of 


INCREASE  IN  CHURCHES 


INCREASE  IN  CHURCH  MEMBERS 


8 


SURVEY  OF  THE  FIELDS 


nearly  fifty  years  of  missionary  effort 
and  sacrifice  in  the  fields  abroad.  The 
number  had  become  23,000  in  1885,  and 
in  1910  we  are  able  to  report  a  church 
membership  of  73,000.  A  net  threefold 
increase  is  indicated  in  native  commu¬ 
nicants  during  the  last  twenty-five  years, 
and  during  the  last  fifty  years  a  twenty- 
four-fold  increase. 

PUPILS  UNDER  INSTRUCTION 

When  we  turn  from  the  churches  and 
their  membership  to  the  number  of  pupils 
under  missionary  instruction,  we  recog¬ 
nize  the  unfairness  of  the  statistics,  since 
the  earlier  schools  were  almost  wholly  of 
the  lowest  primary  grades,  while  in  the 
latest  period  students  of  collegiate  and 
preparatory  institutions  in  large  numbers 
are  included.  The  lifting  of  the  stand¬ 
ards  of  scholarship  has  been  even  more 
marked  than  the  increase  in  the  number 
of  pupils.  Twenty-five  years  ago  prac¬ 
tically  all  children  that  could  be  per¬ 
suaded  to  enter  missionary  schools  were 
accepted,  and  the  courses  of  study  and 
instruction  were  adapted  to  their  capac¬ 
ities.  At  the  present  time,  in  a  great 
number  of  schools,  standards  of  schol¬ 


arship,  together  with  other  requirements, 
are  fixed,  and  those  who  do  not  comply 
with  those  standards  are  not  enrolled. 
At  the  same  time  it  must  be  stated  thiat 
on  account  of  limited  accommodations 
many  who  would  otherwise  be  received 
are  turned  away. 

In  1830  we  learn  that  there  were  4,770 
children  in  schools  conducted  by  mission¬ 
aries.  Thirty  years  later  8,000  pupils 
are  recorded;  in  1885,  when  the  period 
of  higher  collegiate  institutions  was  be¬ 
ginning,  there  were  35,561,  and  at  the 
present  time  we  report  a  student  clien¬ 
tele  of  70,451.  Among  this  last  num¬ 
ber  is  a  great  body  of  both  men  and 
women  in  collegiate  and  theological 
courses,  while  many  more  are  in  pre¬ 
paratory  schools  with  the  college  course 
in  view. 


4991 


661 


1665  1910 


11365 


1174 


1665  1910 


Pupils 


Communicants 


INCREASE  IN  CHINA  ALONE 


SURVEY  OF  THE  FIELDS 


9 


CHINA 

As  an  illustration  of  the  advance 
made  in  a  single  country  let  us  take 
China  and  note  the  progress  there  dur¬ 
ing  the  past  twenty-five  years,  or  since 
the  last  meeting  of  this  Board  in  Bos¬ 
ton  in  1885.  At  that  time  we  had  sixty- 
five  American  missionaries,  while  today 
we  have  about  twice  that  number.  This 
does  not  indicate  much  advance  for  so 
long  a  period.  But  when  we  note  the 
sixty-one  native  Christian  workers  then 
and  compare  that  number  with  the  666 
,at  the  present  time,  we  see  that  in  this 
permanent  and  effective  arm  of  the 
service  there  has  been  more  than  a  ten¬ 
fold  increase. 

Twenty-five  years  ago  all  of  the 
churches  connected  with  the  Board  in 
China  reported  a  membership  of  1,174, 
while  today  there  are  ten  times  that 
number,  or  11,363.  Then  there  were 
but  661  Chinese  pupils  under  mission¬ 
ary  instruction  in  our  missions  in  China, 
while  today  there  are  4,991,  an  increase 
of  nearly  eightfold. 

We  note  then  that  while  the  mission¬ 
aries  have  only  doubled  in  number,  there 
has  been  a  multiplication  of  Chinese 
Christian  workers,  pupils,  and  commu¬ 
nicants  from  eight  to  ten  fold. 

CONTRIBUTIONS  BY  THE 
PEOPLE 

The  value  and  importance  of  all  that 
has  been  here  said  of  the  enlargement 
of  the  work  are  made  vastly  more  sig¬ 
nificant  by  that  which  follows.  Since 
this  Board  began  its  operations  in  the 
East  there  have  not  failed  to  appear 
from  time  to  time  those  who  have  re¬ 
ferred  to  the  Christians  in  the  mission¬ 
ary  churches  as  purchased  by  mission¬ 
ary  funds.  Many  have  refused  to 
believe  that  so  large  a  number  of  Asi¬ 
atics  could  have  abandoned  their  old 
religions  and  identified  themselves  with 
Christianity  without  some  more  tangible 


motive  than  their  acceptance  of  Jesus 
Christ.  The  term  “rice  Christians” 
has  become  classic  with  critics  as  a‘ 
term  by  which  to  designate  those  who 
in  the  Nearer  or  Farther  East  have 
professed  Christianity.  These  critics 


INCREASE  IN  CHINA  ALONE 


have  been  quite  content  to  call  names 
without  proof. 

Whatever  reasons  there  may  have 
been  during  the  first  half  century  for 
casting  doubt  upon  the  sincerity  of  the 
native  Christians,  we  have  positive  evi¬ 
dence  in  these  latter  days  that  they  are 
not  only  ready  to  face  persecution  for 
conscience’  sake,  as  so  many  have  suf¬ 
fered  from  the  first,  but  they  actually 


IO 


SURVEY  OF  THE  FIELDS 


make  financial  sacrifices,  which  for  some 
Orientals  are  harder  to  bear  than  physi¬ 
cal  pain.  Reference  is  here  made  to  the 
amounts  of  money  members  of  the  mis¬ 
sionary  churches  have  contributed  for 
the  support  of  their  own  churches  and 
church  schools,  for  the  higher  Christian 
education  of  their  children,  and  for  the 
propagation  of  Christianity  among  their 
own  people. 

In  1830  there  was  no  allusion  to  con¬ 
tributions  from  the  people  for  support 
of  the  work,  and  probably  few,  if  any, 
missionaries  or  Board  officers  thought  it 
possible  that  the  people  they  were  seek¬ 
ing  to  Christianize  would  ever  pay  any 
appreciable  part  of  the  cost  of  the  work 
In  i860  we  find  the  slightest  allusions 
in  the  reports  about  the  people  them¬ 
selves  being  even  invited  or  permitted 
to  make  any  contributions.  Even  in 
1885,  only  twenty-five  years  ago,  while 
the  reports  of  different  places  refer  to 
“contributions  by  the  people,”  amount¬ 
ing  in  all  the  fields  to  some  $21,762,  the 
fact  was  not  regarded  by  the  officers  of 
the  Board  of  sufficient  importance  to 
tabulate  in  the  reports  or  to  exhibit 
or  allude  to  in  any  special  manner.  A 
new  impulse  was  given  to  the  policy 
of  self-support  in  mission  fields  during 
the  last  two  decades,  which  has  revealed 
a  storehouse  of  resources  and  a  means 


of  discipline  and  testing  never  before 
imagined.  It  is  probably  true  that  there 
are  few,  if  any,  phases  of  missionary 
work  that  have  given  more  confidence 
in  the  faith,  sincerity,  and  purpose  of 
the  native  churches  of  the  East  than  the 
fact  that  in  the  midst  of  chronic  poverty 
as  viewed  from  our  Western  standpoint, 
and  often  of  abject  want,  the  73,000 
members  of  the  missionary  churches  and 
their  colleagues  connected  with  this 
Board’s  work  abroad,  gave  last  year  for 
the  very  purposes  for  which  the  Amer¬ 
ican  constituency  of  this  Board  con¬ 
tributed,  namely,  the  support  of  their 
own  Christian  and  educational  institu¬ 
tions  and  for  the  propagation  of  the 
gospel  among  their  own  people,  nearly 
$263,000.  It  is  a  fact  of  tremendous 
significance  that  for  every  dollar  our 
700,000  church  members  gave  for  the 
support  of  the  native  work,  as  separate 
from  the  support  of  the  missionaries, 
the  73,000  native  church  members  gave 
one  and  one-half  dollars.  Had  our 
church  members  given  in  the  same  per 
capita  ratio,  they  would  have  contributed 
$14.50  in  place  of  every  dollar  they  did 
give;  and  if  our  American  churches 
had  given  in  proportion  to  the  value  of 
an  average  day’s  wage  there  and  here, 
this  amount  must  needs  be  multiplied  by 
ten. 

Let  no  one  say  hereafter  that  these 
brethren  and  sisters  in  the  East  are  not 
as  true  followers  of  Jesus  Christ  as  are 
we,  the  favored  members  of  the  churches 
of  the  West. 

RECEIPTS  OF  THE  BOARD  AT 
HOME 

The  receipts  of  the  Board  from  the 
constituency  at  home  show  a  steady 
growth  at  the  four  periods  taken  as  the 
basis  of  our  present  comparison.  It  will 
be  noticed  that  the  advance  made  here  is 
not  so  marked  as  that  made  by  native 
Christians  themselves,  and  that  it  does 
not  correspond  with  the  increase  in  the 


SURVEY  OF  THE  FIELDS 


membership  of  our  churches  and  their 
added  wealth.  The  figures  show,  never¬ 
theless,  an  advance  that  indicates  con¬ 
fidence  in  the  work  done  and  in  the 
Board  that  is  directing  it. 

Starting  with  less  than  $1,000  received 
during  the  first  year  of  the  history  of 
the  Board,  its  receipts  became  $83,019 
in  1830,  $429,799  in  i860,  $625,833  in 


*26 

1 

2.764  1 

1 

m  .761 

1630  1660  1665  I 

1910 

INCREASE  IN  GIFTS  FROM  NATIVES 


1885,  and  during  the  fiscal  year  just 
closed  the  Treasurer  reports  receipts 
amounting  to  $989,408.  In  other  words, 
the  contributions  of  the  native  Christians 
increased  during  the  last  quarter  century 
elevenfold,  while  contributions  of  our 
American  constituency  increased  a  little 
less  than  fifty-two  per  cent.  What  might 
have  been  the  results  had  our  own 
beneficence  kept  pace  with  that  of  our 
Christian  brethren  and  sisters  abroad ! 

HIGHER  EDUCATIONAL  WORK 

Since  the  American  Board  had  its 
birth  in  a  college  and  was  cradled  in  a 
theological  seminary,  and  since  from  the 
first  its  missionaries  have,  for  the  greater 
part,  been  college  trained  men  and  also 
graduates  of  theological  schools,  it  was 


1 1 

but  natural  that  education  should  have 
early  found  place  in  the  missionary  work 
they  established  abroad.  Who  could 
know  and  appreciate  better  than  they  the 
value  of  the  college  and  training  school, 
not  only  to  the  church,  but  to  society 
and  the  state?  It  was  to  be  expected 
that  in  their  plans  for  creating  in  the 
East  a  new  religious  order  as  well  as  a 
new  society  they  should  give  large  place 
to  the  training  of  the  youth  and  the  cre¬ 
ation  of  an  educated  native  force  able 
to  command  a  hearing  among  their  own 
people  and  recognized  everywhere  as 
capable  of  safe  and  wise  leadership. 

It  is  also  a  most  significant  fact  that 
in  1830  of  the  sixty-six  Corporate  Mem¬ 
bers  of  the  Board  nearly  one-third,  or 
twenty-one,  were  college  and  theological 
seminary  presidents  or  professors  in  such 
institutions.  It  is  therefore  no  wonder 
that  college  men  were  sent  out  and  that 
the  education  of  native  youth  had  a  large 
place  in  the  plans  of  the  Board  and  the 
missions. 

The  school,  organized  according  to  the 
best  known  methods,  has  from  the  first 
had  large  place  in  the  missionary  econ¬ 
omy  and  practical  methods  of  this  Board. 
While  there  have  been  discussions  as  to 
the  place  of  education  in  the  work  of 
permanent  evangelization,  the  end  of  all 
has  been  renewed  efforts  to  reach  the 
bright  youth  of  the  East  through  the 
Christian  teacher,  and  to  give  unusual 
training  to  select  young  men  and  women 
for  special  positions  in  the  church  and 
society  and  state. 

As  one  would  expect,  this  has  resulted 
in  an  increasing  number  of  higher  insti¬ 
tutions  of  learning  for  both  young  men 
and  women  in  all  of  the  great  countries 
where  we  have  planted  missions.  All  of 
these  institutions  have  had  a  gradual  and 
wholesome  growth,  always  under  the  de¬ 
sire  of  the  people  of  the  country  for  a 
safe,  sane,  and  modern  education  for 
their  children  and  the  demands  of  the 
missionary  work  for  the  product  of  the 


OF  nmm 


12 


SURVEY  OF  THE  FIELDS 


college  and  seminary.  These  two  im¬ 
pulses  have  worked  together  in  produc¬ 
ing  the  chain  of  collegiate  and  theolog¬ 
ical  institutions  that  are  an  honor  to  this 
Board  and  that  belt  the  earth  today. 
Without  these  the  work  of  the  Board 
could  not  be  aggressively  continued,  and 
the  hold  we  now  have  upon  the  races 
of  the  East  would  be  loosened  if  not 
largely  dissipated. 

Under  the  impulse  now  sweeping  over 
the  Asiatic  and  even  African  races 
towards  a  modern  education,  amounting 
almost  to  an  intellectual  revolution,  the 
importance  and  need  of  our  higher  edu¬ 
cational  work  have  been  enhanced.  What 
was  of  great  value  before  has  become 
imperative  now.  Through  these  institu¬ 
tions  we  have  been  forced  into  a  position 
of  leadership  in  the  movement  towards 
modern  education  not  anticipated  and 
not  sought,  but  impossible  to  escape. 

Hitherto  an  annual  appropriation  from 
the  Board  for  the  support  of  the  Amer¬ 
ican  teachers  and  missionaries  engaged 
in  this  higher  educational  work  has  been 
the  method  of  the  Board’s  support.  A 
few  of  these  colleges  have  already  se¬ 
cured  small  endowments,  but  for  the 
most  part  they  have  been  compelled  to 
rely  for  support  upon  receipts  from  stu¬ 
dents,  special  gifts  from  various  sources, 
and  the  inadequate  and  precarious  grant 
from  the  Board. 

The  time  has  arrived  when  more  per¬ 
manent  and  dependable  support  must  be 
secured ;  in  this  the  missionaries,  the 
Prudential  Committee,  and  the  Board 
itself  are  united.  The  plan  agreed  upon 
is  to  secure  a  permanent  endowment  of 
not  less  than  two  millions  of  dollars,  the 
fund  to  be  held  by  the  Board,  the  income 
each  year  to  be  appropriated  according 
to  need  to  this  higher  educational  work. 
The  first  charge  upon  the  fund  will 
probably  be  the  salaries  of  the  American 
missionaries  and  teachers,  followed  by 
the  support  of  the  native  teachers,  equip¬ 
ment,  library,  apparatus,  etc.  The  pres¬ 


ent  plan  contemplates  only  colleges  and 
schools  for  men,  but  it  is  hoped  that 
similar  endowment  may  be  secured' for 
accomplishing  the  same  relief  for  the 
women’s  colleges.  For  them  the  need  is 
equally  appealing. 

A  glance  at  some  of  these  Christian 
educational  institutions  and  the  place 
they  occupy  in  the  different  countries 
establishes  their  supreme  importance  in 
the  work  of  planting  the  kingdom  of 
Christ  in  lands  that  are  not  now 
Christian. 

A  FEW  ILLUSTRATIONS 

In  Turkey  greater  freedom  has  been 
accorded  to  all  forms  of  teaching,  while 
the  people  themselves  are  unprecedent¬ 
edly  awake  to  the  need  of  a  thorough 
education  for  their  children.  In  Bul¬ 
garia  the  Collegiate  and  Theological 
Institute,  the  only  evangelical  training 
school  in  the  country,  had  accepted  in 
August  all  the  students  it  could  accom¬ 
modate,  although  the  most  of  its  pupils 
register  about  the  middle  of  September. 

Anatolia  College  at  Marsovan  has 
become  the  resort  for  Russian  young 
men  seeking  an  education,  its  Russian 
students,  among  the  best  upon  its  rolls, 
having  about  doubled  each  year  for  the 
last  four  years. 

The  International  College  for  men  in 
Smyrna  has  for  years  drawn  all  its 
support,  except  the  salary  of  its  mission¬ 
ary  president,  from  the  people,  and  is 
overwhelmed  with  students. 

Euphrates  College  at  Harpoot,  in  the 
heart  of  Armenia,  and  Central  Turkey 
College  at  Aintab,  as  well  as  St.  Paul’s 
Institute  at  Tarsus,  are  all  in  the  closest 
touch  with  the  dominant  Mohammedan 
leaders,  and  are  directing  forces  that  are 
shaping  the  new  life  and  thought  of 
New  Turkey. 

In  addition  to  these  collegiate  institu¬ 
tions  there  are  the  five  theological  train¬ 
ing  schools,  whose  task  it  is  to  train  the 


SURVEY  OF  THE  FIELDS 


*3 


men  who  are  to  direct  the  141  Protes¬ 
tant  churches  as  they  demonstrate  to  the 
people  of  that  country  the  practical  and 
vital  principles  of  Christian  living. 

Is  it  any  wonder  that  the  call  for 
advance  from  the  six  colleges  and  five 
theological  training  schools  in  Turkey 
seems  imperative? 

In  India  the  educational  reforms  con¬ 
nected  with  the  universities  are  compel¬ 
ling  all  colleges  to  better  equipment, 
under  penalty  of  loss  of  charter.  We  are 
in  full  accord  with  the  new  order,  but 
its  application  demands  radical  advance 
in  expenditures  for  apparatus,  libraries, 
and  teachers,  as  well  as  for  buildings. 
A  crisis  confronts  our  higher  educational 
work  in  the  American  College  at  Mad¬ 
ura,  such  a  crisis  as  only  increased 
financial  aid  can  avert. 

In  our  two  theological  schools  in  India 
we  have  eighty-one  students,  and  the  call 
of  the  land  is  for  more  and  better  trained 
men  for  leadership  in  the  churches. 

When  we  contemplate  the  place  of 
higher  education  in  China  at  the  present 
time,  words  fail  to  reveal  the  situation 
as  it  confronts  us.  The  entire  empire  is 
looking  to  the  United  States  for  counsel 
and  instruction  in  matters  educational, 
while  the  English  language  has  been 
made  by  imperial  decree  the  official  for¬ 
eign  language  of  its  national  schools  and 
of  the  Educational  Department.  We 
ought  at  once  to  quadruple,  at  the  very 
least,  the  strength  and  capacity  of  every 
one  of  our  educational  plants,  and  so  far 
as  we  can  now  see  we  may  be  called 
upon  next  year  to  make  a  similar  ad¬ 
vance.  China  is  taking  on  Western 
thought  and  learning  with  astounding 
rapidity.  She  will  have  the  learning 
whether  we  give  it  or  not,  but  the  oppor¬ 
tunity  is  ours  to  see  that  it  is  obtained 
from  Christian  teachers  and  in  Christian 
surroundings.  Our  collegiate  and  theo¬ 
logical  institutions  at  Peking,  Tung-chou, 
Shansi,  Shao-wu,  Canton,  and  Foochow 
stand  at  the  center  of  this  movement. 


The  Doshisha  in  Japan  holds  a  place 
in  the  nation  it  never  before  commanded, 
and  its  influence  is  wider  than  at  any 
other  period  in  its  history. 

What  can  we  say  regarding  the  new 
educational  situation  in  South  Africa 
and  in  Mexico,  all  of  which  adds  to  the 
demonstration  that  in  the  history  of  this 
Board  we  have  never  occupied  so  many 
positions  of  strategic  importance  or  faced 
such  possibilities  for  effective  and  per¬ 
manent  advance  as  we  hold  today  in 
twenty-six  institutions  of  higher  learning 
for  young  men  in  eight  of  the  great 
countries  of  the  world. 

ENDOWMENTS  SECURED 

At  the  last  meeting  of  the  Board  the 
following  action  was  taken: — 

“In  view  of  the  unquestioned  need 
for  the  immediate  creation  of  a  Two 
Million  Dollar  Endowment  Fund  for  the 
educational  work  of  the  American  Board, 
and  in  order  that  as  Corporate  Members 
we  may  do  our  share  towards  its  achieve¬ 
ment  during  the  coming  year,  be  it  Re¬ 
solved,  that  the  President  be  asked  to 
appoint  a  special  committee  of  seven 
from  our  membership  to  cooperate  with 
the  officers  of  the  Board  in  bringing  this 
about  before  the  meeting  in  Boston  in 
1910.” 

This  action  is  definite  and  easily  under¬ 
stood.  It  was  easier  to  pass  the  vote 
than  to  secure  the  consent  of  Corporate 
Members  who  could  give  the  time  and 
strength  which  service  upon  such  a  com¬ 
mittee  demanded.  After  a  series  of 
declinations  upon  the  part  of  various 
Corporate  Members  of  the  Board,  the 
President  decided  to  ask  that  longer  time 
be  given  for  making  up  the  committee. 

This  does  not  mean,  however,  that  no 
progress  has  been  made.  Corporate 
Members  of  this  Board,  a  score  of  them 
and  more,  who  did  not  wish  to  serve 
upon  a  committee  have  interested  them¬ 
selves  in  the  plan  for  the  permanent 


14 


SURVEY  OF  THE  FIELDS 


endowment  of  the  higher  educational 
institutions  of  the  Board,  the  need  for 
which  was  never  so  acute  as  at  the 
present  time. 

If  the  importance  of  the  completion 
of  a  permanent  endowment  fund  of  at 
least  $2,000,000  was  recognized  at  the 
meeting  of  this  Board  two  years  ago, 
and  again  last  year,  it  is  vastly  more 
important  today.  Much  quiet  work  has 
been  done  during  the  year,  as  has  been 
suggested,  and  that,  too,  with  not  a  little 
encouragement.  Already  good  pledges 
and  money  have  been  received  from  less 
than  a  dozen  people  for  something  over 
$1,100,000,  and  others  have  the  question 
under  advisement.  These  funds  are  given 
with  the  understanding  that  they  are  to 
constitute  a  general  permanent  endow¬ 
ment  fund  to  be  held  by  the  Board,  the 
income  alone  to  be  appropriated  from 
year  to  year  for  the  support  of  the 
higher  educational  work  of  the  Board 
abroad.  Only  $100,000  of  this  amount  is 
conditional  upon  the  completion  of  the 
$2,000,000. 

This  fund,  when  completed,  will  ac¬ 
complish  more  for  the  education  of  the 
leaders  in  the  great,  restless  Eastern 
nations  than  ten  times  that  amount  could 
do  in  this  country,  while  the  relative  in¬ 
fluence  of  one  educated  son  of  the  Orient 
will  be  at  least  a  hundred  times  that  of 
a  graduate  in  our  own  land  of  universi¬ 
ties  and  colleges. 

CONCLUSION 

This  brief  survey  of  the  year  and  of 
the  century  affords  a  glimpse  of  the 
assets  which  belong  to  this  Board,  and 
which  are  at  its  disposal  for  the  begin¬ 
ning  of  its  second  century  of  Christian 
service.  These  assets  are  the  accumu¬ 
lation  of  capital  and  experience,  native 
and  foreign  missionary  forces,  and  pres¬ 
tige,  as  well  as  established  bases  of 
operations  in  the  great  centers  of  the 
non-Christian  world. 


A  century  ago  our  mission  work  was 
begun  with  none  of  these  assets.  The 
missionary  Board  and  its  missionaries 
faced  the  great  problem  of  bringing  this 
world  to  Christ  with  only  the  promises 
of  God  as  their  assurance,  and  their 
faith  in  those  promises  and  in  Jesus 
Christ  as  their  capital.  Under  divine 
guidance  they  went  forth  and  have  ac¬ 
complished  mighty  things  in  the  name 
of  the  Master  whom  they  served.  No 
one,  a  century  ago,  would  have  been 
so  bold  as  to  predict  that  within  a  hun¬ 
dred  brief  years  the  missionary  forces 
should  have  thus  won  their  position  and 
gained  such  a  foothold,  not  only  mate¬ 
rial,  but  spiritual  also,  in  the  capitals  of 
the  non-Christian  nations  as  well  as 
throughout  their  territory. 

We  now  witness  the  patent  fact  of 
mission  progress,  and  see  in  it  an  indi¬ 
cation  of  what  we  may  expect  in  the 
period  which  is  before  us.  We  have 
our  great  mission  plants  in  excellent 
working  order,  manned  by  some  of  the 
ablest  missionaries  in  the  world,  with 
whom  are  cooperating  a  vast  army  of 
trained  native  leaders.  We  face  the 
new  century  with  the  assurance  that 
the  Lord  who  has  owned  and  directed 
this  work  during  the  century  that  has 
passed  will  continue  to  direct  it  in  the 
century  to  come.  The  fields  we  occupy 
are  strategic,  none  more  so  in  all  the 
world,  and  our  stations  are  central  and 
influential  even  beyond  the  borders  of 
the  territory  occupied.  We  have  reason 
to  take  new  courage  and  press  forward 
in  every  department  of  our  work,  with 
the  assurance  that  only  victory  lies  in 
advance.  With  the  prestige  now  estab¬ 
lished  through  the  accumulations  of  the 
century,  and  with  the  support  from  the 
churches  of  this  country  in  accordance 
with  their  numbers  and  their  resources, 
there  is  no  reason  why  the  work  of  this 
Board  abroad  should  not  double  in  vol¬ 
ume  and  in  results  every  five  years  for 
the  next  quarter  of  a  century. 


SURVEY  OF  THE  FIELDS 


STATISTICAL  SUMMARY 

When  we  turn  to  the  purely  statistical 
side  of  the  work  of  the  year  we  find 
much  that  gives  us  courage.  The  num¬ 
ber  of  missionaries  has  slightly  increased, 
owing  not  to  any  special  reenforcement 
of  any  fields,  but  because  of  the  sending 
out  of  new  candidates  to  take  the  place 
of  those  who  must  soon  retire  from  the 
work.  The  force  of  native  laborers  upon 
whom  greatest  reliance  is  placed  has 
made  considerable  advance  over  last 
year.  Last  year  we  were  able  to  report 
4,564  trained  natives  at  work  in  con¬ 
nection  with  the  missionaries  of  the 
Board;  this  number  is  increased  more 
than  150  this  year,  and  we  report  4,718 
at  the  present  time,  of  whom  306  are 
ordained  and  648  unordained  preachers 
and  evangelists.  The  568  churches  re¬ 
port  a  membership  of  over  73,000.  There 
has  been  in  many  of  the  mission  fields 
a  revision  of  the  church  rolls  during  the 
year,  which  has  had  a  tendency  to  reduce 
the  number  of  communicants  reported. 
To  these  churches  were  added  last  year 
over  5,000  on  confession  of  their  faith. 
There  is  a  constituency  outside  the 
church  membership  numbering  over 
170,000,  who  in  some  countries  are  clas¬ 
sified  as  Christians,  although  they  have 
not  yet  joined  the  church.  It  is  among 
this  number  that  the  catechumens  are 
found,  from  whom  the  church  is  to  be 
reenforced.  The  mission  Sunday  schools 
report  nearly  88,000  on  their  rolls  dur¬ 
ing  the  year.  The  fourteen  theological 
schools  have  204  students  preparing  for 
the  Christian  ministry.  The  entire  num¬ 
ber  under  Christian  instruction  in  con¬ 
nection  with  the  various  missions  is 
70,451.  In  the  medical  work  of  our 
missions  there  were  given  last  year  over 
350,000  treatments,  while  the  printing 


*5 

presses  have  turned  out  over  27,000,000 
pages  of  Christian  and  educational  liter¬ 
ature,  the  most  of  which  is  sold  to  the 
people  for  whom  work  is  carried  on. 

During  the  first  century  of  modern 
missions  now  closing  we  have  witnessed 
achievements  in  the  Christian  conquest 
of  the  world  of  which  the  originators  of 
the  movement  did  not  dare  to  dream. 
Barriers  have  been  removed,  opposition 
turned  into  cooperation,  and  enemies  into 
allies,  as  Christianity  and  the  institutions 
for  which  it  always  stands  have  become 
indigenous  in  the  great  centers  of  the 
Orient.  Christian  native  forces  are 
assuming  with  joy  and  efficiency  burdens 
the  missionaries  bore  a  few  decades 
ago.  The  point  of  view  of  the  great, 
restless  East  is  rapidly  changing,  and 
while  not  ready  to  adopt  Christianity  as 
a  national  religion,  few  indeed  are  they 
who  refuse  to  speak  well  of  it. 

In  the  meantime,  through  improved 
methods  of  travel,  the  international  post, 
and  the  telegraph,  distance  has  been 
greatly  annihilated  and  the  non-Chris¬ 
tian  nations  are  brought  to  our  very 
door.  Not  only  are  the  barriers  of 
approach  removed,  but  the  great  Asiatic 
nations  and  races  have  become  our 
actual  neighbors  and  await  the  message 
we  have  to  deliver. 

We  need  them  as  truly  as  they  need 
us.  We  of  America  require  this  vast 
field  for  the  exercise  of  our  religion, 
in  order  that  it  may  not  perish  of  idle¬ 
ness.  We  can  never  fully  know  the 
Christ  whom  we  preach  until  he  is  in¬ 
terpreted  to  us  by  every  race  and  in 
every  language  of  earth.  That  any  one 
may  know  him  in  completeness  all  must 
know  him  in  part.  There  can  be  no 
faltering  as  we  turn  our  faces  to  the 
unfinished  task  of  the  century  before  us. 


i6 


SURVEY  OF  THE  FIELDS 


GENERAL  SUMMARY,  1909-1910 
Missions 

Number  of  Missions  . . 20 

Number  of  Stations .  162 

Number  of  Outstations . 1,329 

Places  for  stated  preaching . 1,722 

Laborers  Employed 

Number  of  ordained  Missionaries  (9  being  Physicians)  . .  176 

Number  of  Male  Physicians  not  ordained  (besides  14  women) .  26 

Number  of  other  Male  Assistants .  12 

Number  of  Women  (14  of  them  Physicians)  (wives  188,  unmarried  198)  ....  386 

Whole  number  of  Laborers  sent  from  this  country .  606 

Number  of  Native  Pastors .  309 

Number  of  Native  Preachers  and  Catechists  . .  648 

Number  of  Native  School  teachers . 2,577 

Bible-women .  417 

Number  of  other  Native  Laborers .  775 

Total  of  Native  Laborers . 4*723 

Total  of  American  and  Native  Laborers . 5*323 

The  Churches 

Number  of  Churches .  568 

Number  of  Church  Members  . . 73,114 

Added  during  the  year . 5*096 

Whole  number  from  the  first,  as  nearly  as  can  be  learned . 210,423 

Number  in  Sunday  Schools . 87,876 

Educational  Department 

Number  of  Theological  Seminaries  and  Training  Classes  ......  14 

Students  for  the  Ministry .  204 

Students  in  Collegiate  Training  ...........  **695 

Boarding  and  High  Schools .  132 

Number  of  Pupils  in  these  Schools  ...........  13*984 

Number  of  Common  Schools . 1,335 

Number  of  Pupils  in  Common  Schools . 56,467 

Whole  number  under  instruction . 73*868 

Native  Contributions,  so  far  as  reported  ..........  $276,715 


THOMAS  TODD  CO. 

printers 

14  BEACON  STREET 
BOSTON 


